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" God, people, and empire: Anti-imperial theology of Luke -Acts in light of Jewish portrayals of Gentile rulers "
Kazuhiko Yamazaki-Ransom
D. W. Pao
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Latin Dissertation
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English
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| Record Number
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55733
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| Doc. No
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TL25687
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3245972
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| Main Entry
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Kazuhiko Yamazaki-Ransom
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| Title & Author
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God, people, and empire: Anti-imperial theology of Luke -Acts in light of Jewish portrayals of Gentile rulers\ Kazuhiko Yamazaki-Ransom
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| College
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Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
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| Date
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2006
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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2006
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| Page No
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436
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| Abstract
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This study demonstrates that one of the ways Luke redefines the idea of the people of God in his two-volume work is by redefining the opponents of the people of God. Employing a historically-informed narrative-critical approach to Luke-Acts, this work illuminates Luke's portrayals of Roman officials in light of the Jewish portrayals of Gentile rulers in both the Old Testament and in Second Temple literature. Luke's worldview is holistic: both Jewish and Roman authorities are under the authority of the Roman emperor, who is in turn under Satan's authority. False dichotomies such as those between Jewish and Roman, political and religious, and supernatural and earthly must be avoided. In this interpretative framework, five Roman provincial governors (Pontius Pilate, Sergius Paulus, Gallio, Felix, and Porcius Festus) and three Herodian rulers (Antipas, Agrippa I, and Agrippa II)---as they are Roman rulers for Luke---are examined. This study explores the intertextual relationship of Luke-Acts with preceding Jewish literature, going beyond quotations and clear allusions. Luke's portrayals of Roman and Jewish rulers in his two-volume work reflect certain patterns found in Jewish literature concerning the relationship between God, Israel and Gentile rulers. In Luke's portrayals of rulers, God plays the same role as he does in Jewish literature. He is identical to the ancestral God of Jewish literature, and acts in a similar way. God punishes the evil rulers---either by actual means or by assuring their eschatological judgment---and vindicates his people. There are, however, two significant differences between these Jewish patterns and those of Luke. First, the lordship of Christ plays the central role in Luke's model. Second, Luke redefines the notion of the people of God in his portrayals of rulers. While in the Jewish literature the notion of the people of God is virtually identical to ethnic Israel, in Luke-Acts the followers of Jesus take on the role of the people of God. Thus Luke's portrayals of Roman and Jewish rulers have several important narrative functions. They not only provide the political background of early Christianity, but also illuminate theology, Christology, and ecclesiology in Luke-Acts.
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| Subject
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Philosophy, religion and theology; Acts of the Apostles; Antiimperial theology; Gentile; Gospel of Luke; Jewish; Luke-Acts; Roman Empire; Rulers; Bible; 0321:Bible
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D. W. Pao
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Trinity Evangelical Divinity School
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